Three nursing homes in the Buffalo, New York region will pay a combined $9 million to settle allegations that they submitted tens of thousands of fraudulent claims to Medicaid and Medicare over several years, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced in an official press release.

Three Buffalo-Area Nursing Homes Named in the Settlement

The facilities named in the settlement are Safire Rehabilitation of Northtowns, Safire Rehabilitation of Southtowns, and Williamsville Suburban Nursing Home, collectively referred to as the Safire homes. According to the announcement, the fraud took place from July 1, 2016 through December 31, 2020.

The investigation, conducted jointly by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York, found that the Safire homes submitted false data to the New York Department of Health that artificially inflated their Medicaid reimbursement rates. Under New York’s system, nursing homes submit data reflecting the care their residents need, and the state uses that data to calculate reimbursement rates for the following six months. Investigators found that the homes falsely overstated the amount of rehabilitative services certain residents required during periods that affected their reimbursement rates, then reduced those services during periods that did not affect rates — regardless of what residents actually needed.

Facilities Admit Wrongdoing and Will Pay $9 Million

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